– Why we do it –
Every person is a math person, even if you don’t know it yet. There is joy in perceiving the mathematical order and harmony in the quantifiable world that God has made. To be sure, math can be difficult, but those who persevere (hopefully with the aid of a patient teacher) are richly rewarded.
Math teaches us the skill of problem-solving of which there will be plenty in our lives (Matthew 6:34). A good problem solver is one who pays attention to details, analyzes things in a step-by-step manner, looks for patterns, and continues to strive even when a solution is not immediately evident.
Math is certainly useful for the day-to-day practical side of life. Every person needs to earn a living and operate under a balanced budget. Math makes it possible to make wise financial decisions, manage one’s time, cook in proper proportion, and determine the right amount of material you need for a job. It’s nearly impossible to go through a day without the use of math.
Most importantly, we teach math to connect students with their Creator. The properties of math are in line with the characteristics of God (e.g. unchanging, universal and infinite). Math helps us see that our world is not an accident but the result of a precise and orderly designer. Alter the mathematical laws that govern the universe in the slightest way and no life would exist.
– How we teach it –
In the lower grades, we teach math with resources from Abeka, Singapore Math and Rocketmath. This combination provides students with the proper balance of repetitive drilling and a firm grasp of how numbers connect to the real world.
Rocketmath helps students develop automaticity (i.e. rapid mental calculation) through daily drills. Students briefly drill each other on a specific operation before taking a one-minute speed test. The goal is to solve over 60 problems in 60 seconds.
Singapore Math focuses on helping students connect numbers to the real world through the Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract approach (CPA). In line with the classical goal of helping students understand deeply, the CPA approach allows students to see how numbers work through the use of concrete physical objects, then through pictures that represent the objects, and finally through abstract symbols (5 + 5 = 10). Children make solid connections by constantly going back and forth between each of the stages.
We use Dimensions Singapore Math from kindergarten to eighth grade. The layout and presentation in these books are beautiful and unintimidating. Students are not met with a page of 30 math problems densely packed together. Dimensions makes good use of color and spacing to avoid overwhelming the student.
Students who study at OSNAS in the elementary and initial middle school grades are on an advanced math track. They study Pre-Algebra in seventh grade and Algebra in eighth grade. They then go on to take courses in Geometry, Algebra 2, Pre-Calculus and Calculus in high school. Consequently students are well-prepared for college and career.
During senior year, all students take a course called Calculus for Everyone. In line with our goal of giving students an integrated and well-rounded apprehension of the world, this course tells the story of how our understanding of math grew over time through the work of influential mathematicians. In this way, students don’t just learn how to solve problems; they learn the reason they are solving these problems. We want our students to develop the same spirit of inquiry that was present in Pythagoras, Plato, Galileo and Sir Isaac Newton.